How effective are livestock guardians? Desperate for your answers

I don't have any of the "LGD" breeds, but I have a black lab that's been effective at keeping predators at bay for the past 8 years. He's very protective of his turf, and either chases off, kills, or alerts us to any animals that don't belong on the place. We live on a farm in a very rural area, with wildlife all around us. I strongly believe that if we didn't have the dog, we'd be plagued by many raccoons, possums, skunks, coyotes, fox, etc.

 

A good LGD is worth it's weight in gold. I was getting my chickens preyed on by coyotes and wolves during the daytime while out on pasture. They would just jump over the electric poultry fence. When I put the Great Pyrenees LGD out there and the attacks stopped. She currently lives out on pasture with the chickens 24/7.

An LGD is not a normal dog. They need to be large, intimidating, independent, able to withstand all types of weather, and protective of their charges.

 

I have a Great Pyrenees/Anatolian mix.. those chickens, ducks and turkeys are HER babies..
when she's in the house she protects the ones in the brooders.. but when it's time for her to "go to work" in the afternoon and night she is at the door waiting to go be with her outside babies

even though she is an older dog with a few sore joints she takes her job very seriously.. nothing and no one gets by her.. and that means all predators.. including strangers


and before anyone bashes me for having her in the house "part time".. it's on days when her joints are bothering her and she needs a soft place to rest her bones.. after all these years she deserves some care and comfort.. she has more than earned it.. and it in no way ruins her as a LGD..

 

My GP/lab mix and Lab/BC mix dogs have been extremely successful in keeping away and killing predators for the past 7-8 years. A reminder...this works best if the dogs are actually free ranging with the flock at all times and not in the house at night, snuggled up to the owner.

 

They are extremely effective IF you find a good dog, and IF you put in the time to train them, and IF you make sure the livestock is allowed to get used to the dog, and IF you take the time to understand the dog. Oh, and IF you have proper containment.

Oh, and I know a lot of them that spend some time in the house. My own dogs are going to start working as soon as we finish the pasture fence, and the will be rotated between the pasture and the house.

 

I have friends that have Kovaks (sp) and Great pyrenees and they
are very good at their job!


Lynne

 

Quote:Kuvasz - tough dogs, I wouldnt suggest them for beginners. But yes, great dogs!

 

We have friends who have a Bulgarian Shepherd....can't spell the real name! It was trained to guard their goats but they never worked to bond it to the other animals. It will literally lay w/in a few feet of a fox killing a guinea but nothing comes near the goats. I guess you have to make sure you bond it to all your animals.

 

I don't own one myself but my closest neighbor has a big, strapping, male Catahoula hound dog. I know, not your typical LGD but that dog keeps a very large area around here, their property and mine too, free of coyotes, foxes and lots of other things. He is very, very effective. Normally he just chases them off but he has been known to run down and kill coyotes on a couple of occasions. He is one of the smartest dogs I have ever met and completely ignores livestock and pets.

That dog went away once for two weeks with his owner and within days we had coyotes howling in the orchards right behind our house and during the day we would see them in our fields. This went on every night while he was gone. Owner and dog finally came home and the first night those coyotes started up and we waited. Sure enough, within minutes we heard the barking when Tex arrived on the scene. Coyotes got ran off and we haven't heard any since.

Every day without fail I see ole' Tex making his rounds. There's a dog that is absolutely worth his weight in gold!